Definitions
Cuticle:
A coat uniformly spread over the surface of a leaf. It is water-resistant and protects the leaf from excessive absorption of light and evaporation.
Epidermis Layer:
the transparent, colorless layer of cells below the curicle of a leaf, root or stem.
Mesophyll Layers:
he photosynthetic cells (containing most of the chloroplasts) that form the bulk of a plant leaf.
Guard Cells:
cells that form the microscopic openings in the epidermis called stomata (stoma). They regulate the size of stomata and open or close them to control the exchange of gases threw the leaf.
Stomata (stoma):
Opening (controled by guard cells) on the surface of a leaf that allow for the exchange of gases between air spaces in the leaf interior and the atmosphere. Also allows water vapour to escape by transpiration.
Transpiration:
The loss of water vapour from plant tissues, primarily through stomata.
Vascular bundles:
Also called veins, a system of tubes and cells that trnasport water and minerals from the roots to the leaf cells and carry cabohydrates from the leaves to other parts of a plant, including the roots.
Stroma:
Protein-rich semiliquid material in the interior of a chloroplast.
Thylakoids:
A system of membrane bound sacs stacked on top of one another to form characteristic columns.
Grana (granum):
Stacks of thylakoids.
Lamellae (lamella):
Unstacked thylakoid disk connecting 2 stacks together.
Thylakoid membrane:
The photosynthetic membrane (of the thylakoid disks) within the chloroplast that contains light-gathering pigment molecules and electron transport chains.
Thylakoid lumen:
Water filled space within the thylakoids.
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